Google have finally rolled out a new feature called My Places, allowing users to easily refer to map locations they visit frequently. One thing that used to frustrate users about Google Maps is that it never did a good job of remembering the places they searched for. With Google being all about personalizing search results for the web, you would think they would be more interested in doing the same for Maps. They now are.

My Places remembers where you have searched for in the past, making it easy for you to use them in future mapping endeavors. You will need to be signed in with a Google account in order for this feature to work, but let’s be honest; who does not have a Google account for something at this point? Once you are logged in, you will see any location that you have starred in My Places.

In addition to seeing places you have starred, you will also see any place you have left a rating for or any place where you have checked in. This is a feature that many users have wanted to see from Google Maps for a long time.

If you have Google’s web history feature enabled, places you have searched for will also appear in My Places. For those concerned with privacy, you can disable this feature by turning off Google’s Web History feature. This will prevent Google from showing you the places you have searched for in past. You can still star a location to have it show up in My Places, if you should so choose.

Hi. I use Google maps daily for my cleaning business.
Upon sending a map link (shared and checked 'unlisted') to a client to confirm their address, they responded with a concern for their privacy, asking me if I knew that if someone clicked on my maps history that someone would easily be able to see my previous client's addresses, phone numbers, and all notes that I made about the map. They then asked me to take the necessary steps to protect their privacy. I felt violated myself, as noone has ever tried to access my maps history until now.

Nothing of a confidential nature is disclosed in these maps, but appointment notes are made. And upon asking for advice, it's been mentioned (and I agree... to a point, but only to a point) that there is nothing in them that isn't searchable as public information.

I looked all over Google Help and couldn't find anything about the security and privacy of a person's map history as accessed from their personal profile. Would you know anything about this part of the feature? It really is a hard-to-grasp incidental of the feature, and it concerns me more that he took the initiative to search that far himself. I really don't think anyone else has ever thought to. But it does concern me, even if it is just a feeling that my clients might get with no real danger or illegality. It's suddenly clear to me that they might just do the same thing one day as he did and feel their privacy and security is in danger.

How can I do a search for a business/location while showing My Places saved locations? For example, I have a listing in My Places showing campgrounds in an area. I want to search for another campground to see its proximity to the ones I have saved in My Places. When I have my saved campground pins visible on the map and conduct a search, the result does not show my saved places. I want to see both at once (saved and search results). Please let me know how I can do this or tell me where to go for that info. Thank you.